Immersion

In your pursuit of personal remarkability, one of the best things you can do is to find, get to know and be with people who share your passion and have common goals. No too long ago your options were fairly one dimensional and linear...get the best education you could afford, move away, hope to find a good mentor, work your tail off, read a lot of books and attend a conference or two. Some of the same still applies...there's no substitute for mentors and hard work. But, with low cost access to bandwidth (you hear this theme from me a lot), the world is truly at your fingertips. You now have the means to connect with just about anyone, anywhere on the planet. Surprisingly, I run into people almost daily who don't take advantage of the web medium. Too busy, not for me,

So, you'd think anyone with a desire to get ahead would become fully immersed and engaged, joining the literally thousands of conversations going on about

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Style Points

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They count in college football. They count in the Olympics. They count in politics. They also count when selling products and services. Style points matter for anything that's intended to be out of the ordinary...and they have tremendous value. Who's coffee has more style points...Starbucks or McDonalds? Which notebook computer has more...Macbook Air or Inspiron? Which car...Mini Cooper or Monte Carlo? Which greeting card...hand drawn with crayons or Hallmark?

Some style costs a lot...physical design, technical advances, comfort, etc. Some doesn't...a smile, music, eye contact and saying thank you. Interestingly, when we think about improving style, we often focus on the more expensive,  physical part. We work on making it look, taste or feel better...making it work faster...making nicer looking packaging. It's a shame we don't put equal time into the intangibles, the delivery and the relationship.

Style points separate you. They move you away from average, from sameness...and in the process make price less of an issue. It's not a matter of cheap or expensive, it's a matter of caring how people feel and showing it through careful design and delivery. Style points give you something real to brag about, and they give  your audience  a story to tell.

Most of the airlines don't get any style points...Southwest is an exception. Same planes, same airspace, same weather problems. But, more smiles and lightheartedness.

Most car dealerships get negative style points...Carmax seems to defy the odds. Same cars, but a different sales approach and a different system.

One of the smartest things you can do to improve your chances against the competition is to add style to what you're doing. Yes, look at the what...the physical elements. But, don't get bogged down there. Spend more time on the how...the delivery and the relationship...how you're answering the phone, the words in your thank you letters, how you handle complaints or unusual requests, etc.

How you do something is more important than what you do...and more and more, it's what people pay for. Style matters...a lot.



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Why

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Resumes and CV's tell you the what. But, how do you answer the more important "why"? We can read your "objective". But, why are you passionate? We can read what you did last year and the year before. But, why did you leave your last job? We can read that you like to cycle and hike. But, why are you driven toward those interests?

Of course, interviews answer the why. But, why wait for something that may never occur? Why not answer the why questions right up front? Why not save everyone some time and money...and perhaps land you the coveted interview. Prior to the current day access to bandwidth, the risk of telling your why story at the beginning was far too great. Cover letters longer than a few sentences are rarely read. Resumes are judged heavily on brevity and straightforwardness. And, phone calls are intercepted by admins and voice mail and are rarely returned. In other words, telling your story in any format other than in person isn't really possible with the traditional resume approach. Not so any more. With the broadband access we now enjoy, content distribution and consumption is easy. The challenge is to wrap it up in a nice package...tailor made for the intended audience. Des Walsh recently pointed me to a new beta project, VisualCV. I think it's a start...gives you the chance to add video, references, etc. However, I didn't see a blog or photo journal option. Or, how do you capture Twitter, Facebook or Friendfeed posts? What about Google shared items or Swurl? Your platform needs to be comprehensive and it needs to allow for format flexibility to demonstrate creativity and passion for certain things...a personal website which looks like it's professionally designed. Wordpress works great...but, takes some know how and work to make it fit.

And, let's not forget about content. If you don't have a blog, start one. If you don't take pictures, buy a camera. If you don't sing, try. If you haven't done anything remarkable or interesting, how do you expect to get noticed?

If you Google your name and aren't on the first page of results, you're behind.

Packaging Means A Lot...

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Ask Apple. The package looks modern, neat and clean. The wrapping is meticulous. The messaging is clever, simple and easy to understand. The quality of the plastic and paper is better than most. And, the little extra protective coverings that fit each piece perfectly drive the point home...they want you to know they care.

Beyond the fact that the content works pretty darn well, the fact that it's hard for most of us to throw the box away means a lot.

Do your guests and customers want to keep the box?...box of turn down chocolates, gift card box, key packet, pen, etc?

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How to Reach Out and Join a Conversation

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One of the many benefits of internet technology is the ability to see and join conversations...to interact with people who have a demonstrated interest in what you're doing, and to show them that you care. This is especially important to people who have a passion for making themselves and their companies better...those humble enough to know that customers are often smarter about what's right and wrong with their business. Here are four keys to joining the social community...

Tune in- be good at sniffing and snooping to see what's being said, typed, photographed or in some way digitally memorialized. There are a host of companies who will do this on your behalf. Google Alerts is a good first step if you're constrained by budget, boss or both. And, if you have an iPhone, try the Exposure app. It has an option to search for photo's uploaded to Flickr which are near your current position (requires 3g iPhone gps). I stood in the lobby of a hotel today and showed the concierge a photo that had been taken of her giving a prospective guest a tour...scary isn't it.

Reach Out and Ask- Once you've sniffed out something interesting, a rant or rave, make contact and ask for permission to join. Don't leave drive by comments , initiate rebuttal or make sarcastic remarks. Do politely engage and ask if you can help.

Meaningful, genuine dialog-  No form letters or canned responses allowed. Be personal, polite, apologetic (if applicable) and provide whatever information or action is requested. If you don't have the answer, find someone who does. Offer to follow-up. But, don't pester people.

No Control- Don't do anything that gives the impression you want to control the outcome of your exchange. If you do, you lose trust and probably a customer, ten, or maybe a thousand. Remember, you're on a stage, and it's not yours.

Today, I experienced a perfect example of how to reach out and join a conversation. It follows on the heels of my rant earlier this week about a less than stellar experience with the Wilife call center.

It turns out the customer service folks at Logitech (they own Wilife) do a nice job of keeping their ear to the ground for stories like mine. Yesterday, I received an email from Jon Mitchell, Director of Worldwide Customer Support for Logitech. The note was personal, genuinely written, asked for additional details of my encounter and included an offer to follow up by phone. We spoke today, where he and Brad, a call center manager, listened to my story, apologized, told me what happened, offered some recourse and most importantly did not ask me to write a follow-up to my original post. Bravo...nice recovery.

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Try Back Later

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Supportgirl

These words should be banned from use in every company...by penalty of immediate dismissal, or worse.

Imagine you call the toll free number listed on a company website to purchase a product. The first time you try, you are routed to someone's voice mail. The second time, you reach a seemingly stoned and definitely confused tech support guy who doesn't know "why all these calls are being routed to him" and to "try back later". This happened today when I called Wilife (Logitech)...an organization expected to have their act together.

I can't imagine this was the first time a call was routed to the wrong person. I can't imagine any of the sales or tech people at Wilife are trained to tell someone to call back. However, I can imagine that answering the telephone  is not a top priority there...we know it isn't at most places. Because...it's seen as necessary, a process, a cost...instead of  what it really is...an opportunity to make a friend, and make a sale.

You can make remarkable products and services. But, as long as incoming callers are treated like trolls, what's the point?

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Conversation Value

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Email is a reasonable snapshot of how most of us communicate...who we connect with, how often, how much time we spend internal vs. external, etc. Look over your last 50-100 work related email conversations. How many were with customers, prospective customers or front line employees? 1%? 10%? If you work outside of sales, I bet it's pretty low (I must admit, mine is in the single digits). Beyond the front linesMost of our conversations are internal, with colleagues, bosses, vendors or sales people. Or, if you're at the line level, you might not even have access to email. If customers and line staff are inarguably the most important people to the company, why aren't we spending more time (at least half) communicating directly with them? Email, blogs, twitter, etc., are fantastic inventions for relationship building. So, why not use them more effectively with the people that matter most?

1. You (your company) haven't made building a loyal raving fan base your #1 priority.
2. You haven't given people numerous and easy ways to connect with you.
3. It's easier not to
4. We have sales people to do that
5. People don't like receiving e-mail and don't read blogs

Before you can tackle the big hairy obstacles at the top, everyone in your organization needs to come to some realizations about the sub roadblocks:

It's easier today to stand on the sidelines and watch. It will be harder next week, month or year to deal with lay-offs, job elimination, low morale, etc., when you don't have enough business.
It's everyone's job to make connections with strangers and turn them into friends. Everyone should be trained on the basics of professional, courteous and permission based communication. Everyone should have business cards. Everyone should hand them out liberally and ask people (guests as well as employees if you're a supervisor) if they can keep in touch and to call or write if they need anything.
People like hearing from people that they trust and for those that they believe care about them and put their interests ahead of the organization's.
Unless you are way out of touch, you know more and more people are turning to the internet for research, communication, and socializing. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Blackberry, iPhone and a host of online email solutions are the proof in the pudding.

Now, give everyone a reason to make the relationship side of their job a top priority. Give them training, tools and incentives. Develop measurable goals, whether it's email analysis or lead referrals or whatever.



Marketers or Managers?

I gave a talk last week to a group of high school teachers on the subject of attracting students to hospitality (download the powerpoint presentation or view it at the end of this post) . The main point I wanted to get across to the group was that success in our business is 110% relationship driven. Therefore, we need people who think more like marketers, not managers. We need people who can engage, converse, adapt, make people smile, care, and act like they're doing something they really believe in. Less and less, we need people who can follow scripts, manage a process, and develop spreadsheets...technology and friends in places like Bangladesh are taking care of that part.

Here's the most important slide...

Essential hospitality skills

•    Passion (Robin Williams, Steve Irwin)
•    Passion for caring for people
•    Passion for being remarkable- See Jeff Widman Effect (jeffwidman.com)
•    Ability to seek and develop relationships
•    Improv- what can you do with a curve ball (when things don’t go as planned), two or three at  time?
•    Trustworthy and transparent
•    Sense of humor

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
 

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Bad Signs...Why Bother?

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How are we going to get people to come in to our new restaurant? Hey, let's put a really cool sign out front like our competitors do.

If you're going to shout your message at someone with a sign, be sure it represents the experience exactly. There are no short cuts with first impressions. You don't take these sorts of chances with people who answer the phone or on your website. So, why do it with a sign? A great sign tells a story...one harmonious with the remarkable acts which are going on inside. A great sign makes you feel like taking the next step. A sign done on the cheap, with lousy photography, confusing messages and bad content makes you look...well, cheap, lousy, bad...average at best. Why bother?

How Many

How many arrivals did you have today? Departures? What was your occupancy last night? Last Week? How many covers did you have in the restaurant last night? What about beverage sales?

I bet you know the answers to all or most of these questions.  Not surprising since we operate in a culture of measurement...uber measurement in fact. But, what about who? As buying habits continue to move from mass to niche, do you really know your customer? Who is arriving? Who is having dinner? Who stayed last night.? Ar they repeat guests? Where did they come from? Why are they here? What do they like? What clues have we collected to enable us to surprise them? What time are they leaving? Where are they going from here?

Here's a test...if you or a member of your staff meets a guest in the lobby, could you hold a meaningful conversation with them?

Do you focus on how many, or who?...quite an important question.

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People Don't Want to Stop at a Front Desk Upon Arrival

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...they're just conditioned to.

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People don't go to a desk when showing up at a friend's house. They don't go to a desk when going to nice B&B or small inn. For some reason, as hotels grew larger, (and needed to find some staff efficiencies), we made people "check-in" at a desk. It's far easier to have people stand in line and come to us than to create a dynamic system to welcome guests  and escort them to their room, the bar or restaurant. It's easier to get people to conform to an operation that saves money, than to figure out a new way to give them what they want in an efficient way. It doesn't need to be formal, scripted or overdone...it just needs to be genuine.

For the past six months, I've been involved in the overhaul and recreation of a new welcome for a mid-size property with 100 years of front desk history behind it. Some said it couldn't be done...they were wrong. Still work to be done, but the first impressions have been beyond favorable.

Don't get bogged down in improving old systems just because they seemed to have worked. Instead, begin with the experience every guest should have and build your operation around that.

Nickels and Dimes

Airlines are broken...we all get that. Lots of reasons why...understand that too, although not as clearly. I don't think you move closer to solving the problems by drawing attention to something that is considered an inherently negative part of air travel...moving baggage. Charging for something that was previously "free" is dangerous, especially when that part of your service is already under heavy fire. Imagine paying a little extra for the that gracious TSA screening or for use of the on board lavatory. Moves like this are acts of desperation, and have nothing to do with improving the traveler experience. Things are definitely going to get worse before they improve, at least on the service front. Better have a sense of humor, like the attendant on my latest Southwest flight which welcomed us to Hawaii instead of Little Rock because of the delay in  our arrival...you had to be there.

Not incidentally, yesterday I noticed two rather large pieces of luggage arrived at the Capital Hotel via Federal Express. Interesting that a different sort of transportation company stands to gain from this latest airline action.